☕️🎄 NOT CROQUET ☙ Friday, December 22, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS 🎄🦠

Should we panic over JN.1 yet?; irony as Maine storm pulls plug on electric car mandate; Biden has frustration over non-existent campaign; new OMG diversity exposé; croquet world championship; more.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Friday! Only three more days! Today’s roundup includes: a terrifying tale of three pandemics — is it time to panic yet; irony in Maine after storm knocks out vote on electric car mandates along with the power; Biden frustrated with team’s messaging over official accomplishments; OMG exposes another woke corporate and its racial quotas; and another women’s world championship won in an electric performance by a guy in a dress.

🗞💬 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 💬🗞

💉 It’s been a while since we got to watch a good variant horror movie. But now, according to people on our side, this could be finally it, the depopulation event. Let’s review the evidence and figure out: how concerned should we be?

Amongst this year’s ever-spreading alphabet soup of overcooked numbers and letters, there is finally something to talk about: JN.1, the latest mutation to spring out of Pirola’s trousers, which lineage was originally birthed from Omicron, which helpfully tends to loiter in the upper respiratory system and rarely ventures down into the lungs. Due to the J and the N, I call the new variant ‘Pirola Junior.’

Let’s begin by noting that corporate media has found little to worry about as Pirola Junior edges out the others to become a sort of red-nosed Rudolph leading the pack of variants.  On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the WHO labeled the new strain a “variant of interest,” but dumped cold water on the story right in the headline:

Pirola Junior is, of course, being called “even more infectious” than the nineteen previous “super infectious” covid variants. They say — and I am not making this up — Pirola Junior is four hundred times more infectious than the original Wuhan strain. Apparently infection ability is potentially infinite; there’s no upper limit. In other words, it can now infect you through a concrete wall using bluetooth.

The new variant seems busier in Europe. From Bloomberg, yesterday:

I don’t know whether “1 in 24” sounds like a lot or not, but applying mathematics (and the calculator on my phone) that is about four percent. Most people have mild symptoms. Hospitalizations are increasing but remain below last year’s December peak.  And, here in the U.S., apparently we’re just now getting around to throwing out all the leftover PPE from the last pandemic panic. From Bloomberg, Wednesday:

Notwithstanding all the good signs, the panic police remain unsatisfied. For example, take (and please keep) hysterical covid fearmonger Eric Fingle-Dingle, who is hysterically fearmongering again. His take on JN.1, yesterday, was an urgent call for more masking:

Yawn. So far we have an unremarkable covid variant, disinterested corporate media, and below-average (albeit increasing) hospitalization levels. So what gives? What’s stirring up all the natives down at the Fauci Memorial Reservation this time?

Two data fuel all the delirious trepidation. First, the vaccines are completely useless against the heavily-mutated Pirola variant (that is, if they ever accomplished anything in the first place). More relevant, for some reason people without fully functioning immune systems lack good biological defenses to the new variant. But nobody’s really talking about this issue, as you can imagine.

More discussed is the second fact fueling the social media chatter: the rate of increase of JN.1 hospitalizations. It’s really the only JN.1 figure worth mentioning. Reported hospitalizations are low but rising rapidly, or “surging.” That’s rattled covid maniacs like Eric Dingleberry MD, who is generally unremarkable, repetitive, and boring, but the rapid increase over a few days has caused chronic heterodox doomcryer Geert Vanden Bossche (who I respect but take with a grain of salt) to prophesy that this is the big one:

If you tend to fret, do not watch this clip. I will summarize below. Otherwise: CLIP: Geert Vanden Bossche lights the panic beacon for the JN.1 variant (2:38).

In the clip, to prove he is right, Geert asked himself several apocalyptic questions and then provided his own answers:

Will the chain of more and more infectious variants ever stop? Yes. We will not have yet another simply more infectious variant that will displace JN.1.

Will a completely new, highly-virulent variant emerge in highly-vaccinated countries? Yes.

Will the rate of mortality and morbidity start to exponentially increase? Yes — but only in the vaccinated. It will be difficult to get these figures though.

Will Unvaccinated or people in low-uptake Africa be affected? No.

In short, Geert predicts that JN.1 is the end of the line for mild but more infectious variants. He thinks that the next variant will be super-deadly — but only to vaccinated folks. (In a different interview, someone pressed him for a mortality figure and Geert reluctantly estimated 30-40%.) Yesterday Geert published his new theory in a dense, technical Substack, which can be summarized using his own words (lightly edited):

The Omicron descendants, bred in highly C-19 vaccinated populations, have transformed a naturally occurring pandemic into an 'inescapable immune escape pandemic' through the generation of significant immune selection pressure and immune refocusing. The SC-2 variant JN.1 is now rapidly outpacing other co-circulating variants. While the rapidly spreading JN.1 variant does not evoke concerns about increased intrinsic virulence, its widespread dominance is of high concern. The presence of additional, productivity-enhancing mutations in viral proteins other than the S protein indicates the exertion of immune selection pressure … strongly suggests a reduction in the production of virulence-inhibiting antibodies.

I can’t argue with Geert’s science. Literally I couldn’t argue with him. He’s way out of my scientific league. But I do not yet see the evidence for his theory. From day one I asked public health officials about antibody-dependent enhancement and immune escape and never once got any intelligent answer, not one time. I’ve since learned why. Most public health officials don’t understand vaccine science; they’re just good liars who can repeat whatever they’re told in a strong, confident tone of voice.

Their smug, arrogant condescension toward anyone who questions them is just an act. Scientists didn’t refuse to answer questions because they actually believed they’re better than us and didn’t want to sully themselves with “conspiracy theories.” The real reason is that, if they started trying to answer questions, it would have quickly become obvious they had no idea what they’re talking about.

Geert knows what he’s talking about. I’d take Geert over a CDC official any day. And his predictions have been right before. Geert was 100% right with his prediction that mass vaccination would drive evolution of a large number of immune escape variants.

The plain evidence shows an unusual number of major covid mutations all trending toward evading vaccine coverage.

But his worst-case scenarios have yet to emerge. There is solid evidence that the vaccines can degrade immune systems, cause catastrophic autoimmune problems, and enhance some folks susceptibility to common (and uncommon) infections. But — and this is the critical part — besides anecdotally witnessing many of our jabbed friends and relatives having chronic coughs and getting repeated (mild) covid infections, there is no evidence of serious systemic immune failures in large numbers.

Geert might be right. And it’s not like we have a lot of options for who to believe. Even with fabulously-expensive satellite-mounted telescopes, no intelligent thought can be detected at the government-funded health agencies. But Geert’s theory depends on a new, as-yet-unseen variant that would violate evolutionary norms.

See, viruses are under constant pressure to mutate to be less virulent and more transmissible, which is exactly what we’ve seen with Pirola and prior covid variants. A virus that kills people or keeps them in bed does not survive better than a milder virus that lets folks move around and spread the germ.

The bottom line? So far, Pirola Junior appears to be yet another milder, ever-more-infectious covid variant. But I’ll keep an eye on things for you and let you know immediately if any evidence supporting Geert’s prediction evolves. Till then, don’t take your medical advice from Eric Fingle-de-Dee, MD.

🔥 Talk about terrible timing. Fox News ran an article yesterday with the intentionally hilarious headline, “Maine forced to delay vote on EV mandate amid widespread power outages.” The sub-headline piled on: “’A storm like yesterday’s would render 80% of cars useless is, to say the least, ill-advised,' Democratic Rep Golden says.”

For C&C readers who aren’t sure yet about God’s existence, there was a major storm this week causing widespread power outages and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. How severe? I thought this local news headline was apropos:

Here’s one picture of the storm’s aftermath. Those are not aqua-cars:

Responding to the rush of events, yesterday Maine’s woke Board of Environmental Protection indefinitely postponed a highly-anticipated vote over a new electric vehicle mandate for the state. The new rule would have required that over 40% of new car sales from the state’s car dealerships be electric by 2027, and 82% would have had to be electric by 2032.

To me, it sounds like it would have been a terrific rule for car dealerships in nearby Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. But apparently, even some democrats in Maine aren’t too sure about the plan, and this week’s power outages have decidedly not helped. For people who live in Portland: if the power is out, how will you charge your electric car? You can’t. Which means you won’t be going to Whole Foods either.

Climate crusader and Maine Governor Janet Mills' office did not immediately respond to Fox’s request for comment.

🔥 Frustration can be difficult to deal with. On Tuesday, the Washington Post ran an unintentionally hilarious article headlined, “Biden said to be increasingly frustrated by dismal poll numbers.” The sub-headline, and I am not making this up, explained “In one recent meeting Biden said his poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it.”

Hahahahaha! Biden wanted to know what his team and his campaign are doing about his low polls numbers! Who. Is. Running. The. Country?? The WaPo was too dense to catch the drift, but Biden’s question implied that his polling problem was only messaging.

And, if you believe this was a real leak and not a deliberately-planted story to keep the crumbling facade of a fake presidential campaign standing a little longer, Biden’s small group of core loyalists apparently includes at least one disloyal leaker. According to WaPo:

After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it. He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball, even as the economy was growing and unemployment was falling, according to people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

Stern words? Was he mumbling them? And, Joe’s Bidenomics isn’t compelling the ungrateful masses? How could this be? Believe it or not, as of December 20th, 2023, Team Biden still had not created a working campaign organization for the 2024 election cycle:

Only recently, though, have Biden officials started to scale up the campaign, which they launched in April, after months of warnings from top Democrats in battleground states that they were too slow to build out their operation. “We are confident that the full campaign apparatus that builds off three years of significant investments at the DNC will be a powerful force to defeat whatever MAGA Republican we face next year,” TJ Ducklo, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement.

“Will be a powerful force.” Will be. Some day. They’re waiting for a good time to get started. Supposedly.

You’re won’t be able to comprehend this, but WaPo said core democrats apparently love the job Biden is doing and so do everyone they know. Everything is going great:

“I think a lot of activists feel that everyone they know is happy with the president,” former congressman Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) said. “They’re not understanding who is in the majority of the country that is dissatisfied and what to do to change their minds.”

See? It’s not Biden’s fault. It’s his campaign’s fault. The campaign that doesn’t even exist yet.  But believe them, it’s a real campaign, so don’t worry.

🔥 Yesterday, James O’Keefe and OMG Media released another probably-illegal DEI quota video, adding to last week’s IBM exposé. This one was from pharmaceutical giant Sanofi.

CLIP: Sanofi executives discuss enforcement of racial quotas (10:05).

“We make it very clear so every hiring manager knows,” stressed Sanofi’s senior vice-president, probably not fully realizing she would later be going viral. Sanofi requires one in five of its employees to be black, and one in ten must be hispanic. I’m not sure which is more troubling, the potential Title VII violations, or the fact that merit seems not to be the highest priority anymore at the nation’s largest corporations that make important things like medicines.

In a landmark June decision, the Supreme Court found university diversity quotas unconstitutional. Because most corporate hiring policies aiming at “diversity” goals have been justified because colleges do it, many commenters expected lawsuits against corporations to follow the Court decision even though its decision didn’t reach private businesses.

As private entities, corporations are not subject to Constitutional limits on government.

But corporations are limited by Title VII, which bars racial discrimination in hiring, even so-called “reverse discrimination.” And in fact, the lawsuits have begun. All the momentum seems to be running against DEI right now.

🔥 Speaking of DEI and diversity hires, yesterday the New York Times ran a remarkable, non-paywalled op-ed headlined, “Why Claudine Gay Should Go.”

You remember Claudine. She’s the president of Harvard University, and she recently badly botched her Congressional testimony about antisemitism at Harvard along with two other Ivy League presidents. So far, one of the three is now a former Ivy League president. But last week Harvard’s board doubled-down on keeping Claudine, who is busily transforming the college into a dystopian marxist playground of victim groups and competing leftwing sub-ideologies.

At the time — just last week — the board faced seven examples where Claudine plagiarizing other woke leftists’ work and passed it off as her own. Setting aside the obvious criticism that Claudine is a diversity hire who can’t write or think for herself, plagiarism is possibly the worst thing academics could possibly be accused of.

Harvard has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism for its students. Nobody thinks a white university president would have a job after plagiarizing seven times. Harvard president Larry Summers was fired simply for quoting a real study showing men and women’s brains are physiologically different. In a spasmodic paroxysm of understatement, the op-ed blandly observed that keeping Claudine "risks conveying the impression of a double standard.”

You don’t say.

Since last week’s decision to keep Claudine, whistleblowers have been crawling out of the woodpile with more and more examples of stolen work. The list now includes 47 plagiarized passages, which are found in fully half of her total published works plus her doctoral dissertation.

Incidentally, the op-ed was penned by John McWhorter, a well-published Columbia professor:

Last week I predicted that Claudine Gay would not survive as Harvard’s president. When the board voted to fully support the embattled administrator, it looked like I was wrong. But appearances can be deceiving. The story isn’t over yet, and the New York Times just jumped on the pig pile.

🔥 The UK Daily Mail ran a heartwarming story yesterday headlined, “Transgender Australian becomes the first biological male to become a world champion in a women's sport - and rivals are NOT happy.”

Ladies, I don’t know what to tell you. Croquet is just the most recent example proving that men are much better women than women are. And we’re not just better at women’s sports like weightlifting, soccer, and volleyball. Men are better women even at the genteel sports, like lawn bowling, badminton, and croquet.

Mr. Gumbrell entered womanhood four years ago when he turned 19. Since enlisting as female, Jamie Gumbrell, 23, has won every tournament in which he, or she, has competed. Boom. World champion.

This one wasn’t even close. Gumbrell defeated England’s Rachel Gee 7-2 in the final, and according to reports, Rachel was uselessly crying in frustration behind her sunglasses while Mr. Gumbrell proudly accepted the ladies’ trophy. Rachel didn’t complain though.

You see, the actual ladies competing at the wickets weren’t allowed to complain.  “There was a huge amount of disquiet,” admitted Sue Lightbody, a player on England's World Championship team, but “everything was hush-hush, everyone was worried about being called transphobic.” In other words, men have finally found a way to shut women up. Women — proper ones — should be seen more and heard less. Let the trans women handle the talking.

Don’t shoot the messenger! I didn’t make the rules. I couldn’t have even imagined the rules. You cannot make this stuff up. That’s it for today — I’m off to practice my badminton for an upcoming tournament. Wish me luck!

Have a fabulous Friday! And come on back tomorrow morning for the wonderful weekend edition.

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